AGROECOLOGY, the European Partnership ‘Accelerating Farming Systems Transition: Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures’, is an ambitious, large-scale European research and innovation endeavour between the EC and 26 Member States (MS), Associated Countries (AC) and Third Countries. AGROECOLOGY will support an agriculture sector that is fit to meet the targets and challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, food security and sovereignty, and the environment, while ensuring a profitable and attractive activity for farmers. Major change is needed to make the agriculture sector more sustainable, resilient and responsive to societal and policy demands. Agroecology builds on natural, biological interactions while using state-of-the-art science, technology and innovation based on farmers’ knowledge. It represents a promising approach with the potential to respond to challenges faced by the European agriculture sector and to meet its needs. Real-life testing and experimentation environments, living labs are an appropriate instrument to accelerate the agroecology transition. Research infrastructures will also contribute to making scientific knowledge on agroecology available for this transition. Together these instruments will allow for ambitious experimentation at different scales, merging science and practice, to provide science-based evidence on the effects of novel approaches and accelerate the agroecology transition. AGROECOLOGY will pool the resources of the EC and the states involved to fund high-level research generating appropriate knowledge and technologies aligned with the core themes described in the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, while also implementing a series of supporting activities to inform, consult, advise and involve different stakeholders to build capacities, raise awareness and manage and exchange the knowledge and data created.

This proposal describes concept development and conceptualisation of a EuroFAANG (European Functional Annotation of ANimal Genomes) infrastructure to realise the full potential of genotype to phenotype (G2P) research across species, breeds and populations of farmed animal species in Europe. To achieve accurate G2P predictions, it is necessary to be able to refine and characterise highly complex traits as sets of intermediate informative phenotypes along the entire cascade from genome to cell, organism, environment, population and across different environments. The goal of the EuroFAANG infrastructure is to streamline use of interdisciplinary capabilities for G2P research in terrestrial and aquatic farmed animals and provide transnational access to all of the relevant facilities, expertise and knowledge to European stakeholders. This will address the need to bring together national facilities at the pan-European level in the field of animal genetic resources, phenotyping and breeding, and animal health, which was identified as a gap in the infrastructure landscape by the 2021 ESFRI Roadmap. The proposal builds on the foundation provided by the five current H2020 EuroFAANG projects, AQUA-FAANG, BovReg, GENE-SWitCH, GEroIMO and RUMIGEN and connects with existing infrastructures for data management and animal agriculture in the European research infrastructure landscape. The institutions and organisations involved have world-leading expertise in fundamental and applied farmed animal science and consolidated established connections to European stakeholders in farmed animal science. The outcomes of this proposal will lead to better alignment of the development of the research infrastructures landscape for the advancement of excellent farmed animal science and frontier G2P research in Europe and globally.

Despite the revolution in functional genome analysis a wide gap in understanding associations between the (epi)genome and complex phenotypes of interest currently remains and impedes efficient use of annotated genomes for precision breeding. The BovReg consortium will provide a comprehensive map of functionally active genomic features in cattle and how their (epi)genetic variation in beef and dairy breeds translates into phenotypes. This constitutes key knowledge for biology-driven genomic prediction needed by scientific and industry livestock communities. The BovReg brings together a critical mass of experts in ruminant research and beyond encompassing bioinformatics, molecular and quantitative genetics, animal breeding, reproductive physiology, ethics and social science. Our 20 partners from the EU, Canada and Australia form a global interdisciplinary team, which builds on previous and running national and EU-funded projects and many established industry cooperations. In BovReg we will generate functional genome data based on FAANG core assays from representative bovine tissues and newly established cell lines covering different ontological stages and phenotypes applying novel bioinformatic pipelines. We will establish detailed knowledge on traits related to robustness, health and biological efficiency in cattle. Data, knowledge and protocols will be deposited in European biological archives, aiming to set up and maintain a knowledge hub and establish gold standards. Long-term availability of data and targeted dissemination and communication activities are guaranteed by EMBL-EBI, FAANG and EAAP. Our biology-driven genomic prediction tools will integrate biological knowledge on regulatory genomic variation into genomic selection schemes for local and global cattle populations. This improved knowledge will be useful for re-focussing cattle production, fully taking into account societal awareness, environmental and animal-welfare aspects and bio-efficiency.

Developing a resilient and sustainable agriculture system, and the agroecological transitions requires a deep understanding of agroecosystems, their interactions with the environment, and management practices. AgroServ features a large consortium of research infrastructures, most of them being on the EU roadmap, and a vast offer of services at all scales, from the molecule to the organism, to the ecosystem, to the society. AgroServ will facilitate a systemic and holistic approach to understand the threats and challenges agriculture is facing, towards the implementation of a resilient and sustainable agri-food system. We propose a transdisciplinary offer of services, integrating the actors of the agriculture system in the research process, of which the farmers are the first, thanks to a wide offer of living labs across Europe. Most of the relevant field of sciences are represented in AgroServ, from natural to social sciences. We will develop a wider catalogue of integrated and customized services, thanks to a specific approach of service pipelines designed from a gap analysis, stakeholder and user demands. A strong community building and training program for access managers and users will be implemented to facilitate multi- and transdisciplinary research with all relevant actors. Results from the research performed under AgroServ will be synthetized to be used in the scope of evidence-based policy making. Data from AgroServ will be open and compliant with FAIR practices, and made available on the long-term to the communities, and be linked with the main European initiatives, as the EOSC. Strong links will be established with existing or future programs under H2020 and Horizon Europe, such as the partnerships agroecology, living labs and research infrastructures, and agriculture of data, as well as the two CSA AE4EU and ALL-READY, and the missions soil and plant health, and waters. AgroServ will collaborate with other relevant initiative in the Pillar II to of HE.

NUTRIFEEDS is dedicated to developing regenerative animal feed solutions by transforming underutilised local plants and agri-food by-products into high-protein feed through cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary methods. Aligning with the EU's Farm2Fork strategy, the project aims to reduce the reliance on imported feeds, enhance agricultural circularity, and minimize waste. The initiative involves detailed analysis of raw materials, including net energy, followed by their enhancement through Black Soldier Fly larvae and targeted fermentation to improve nutrient content and reduce anti-nutritional factors. Experimental validation will contribute to enhanced diet formulation. The project explores the impacts on welfare, health, immune responses, microbiome, and behaviour of both monogastric animals and ruminants. Through collaborations with farms, experimental feeds from insect upcycling and fermentation will be refined. NUTRIFEEDS also seeks to build on existing silvopasture systems and engages farmers in co-creating local policies. It also integrates AI for insightful data analysis and development of software aiding farmers with efficient monitoring and feeding systems, allowing hence for the creation of feed formulations that enhance both animal health and welfare while sustaining productivity. Thus, the project emphasizes animal welfare, aims to reduce the environmental impact of feed production, and involves stakeholders in the development and dissemination of its solutions. Methods of preserving energy, such as drying powered by solar energy, will help to create extra revenue streams from the sale of feed. A proposed European Centre for Regenerative Animal Nutrition will facilitate dissemination and promote uptake of these innovations and will implement online courses based on NUTRIFEEDS findings. NUTRIFEEDS will factor in environmental, social and economic sustainability and will create guidelines to reinforce Europe's position as a leader in global innovation.